The priests in the video are a reminder of what priests, routinely, used to be like. Who needs a definition of “the priestly spirit” when listening to those priests, who appear to be “the priestly spirit” personified. Ask a young person whether they prefer the modern “cool” version of priest to those in the film and you will find that with very few, if any exceptions, they will identify the priests in the film as being their ideal type of priest.

If your findings are different – let’s hear them. If you are a young person reading this, let us know your thoughts on the priests in the film, because the questions to address here are, quite simply: (1) what is the SSPX doing in its seminary formation that is producing the quality of priests in the film and (2) how long will it take for the priestly spirit, so evident in the video interviews, to be restored across the UK?

We’ve discussed this topic before – the legislation due to come into force in the autumn whereby the primary relationship of every child in Scotland – from pre-born to 18 years – is to be with the Named Person (NP) appointed by the State, not their parents. Each time I’ve discussed this with some of the parents in my circle, I’ve been absolutely astonished at their responses, which range from “it won’t happen” to “it won’t affect me” to “I’ve got nothing to hide so it won’t be a problem”. They fail to join up the dots in recognition of the fact that the NP scheme is Chapter 2 of the Communist Manifesto (destruction of the family) writ large.

In fact, when we previously discussed this I remember a couple of our bloggers crossed swords, because one described parents who took a trusting attitude to the Government’s NP scheme as “simpletons” and another rebuked her suggesting it would be better, surely, to try to educate parents rather than call them names. Well, er.. yes. You’d think so. Except, over a year on, I know I’m not alone in finding it impossible to educate so many of them – they just don’t want to know. They refuse to recognise the gravity of this NP Scheme. Yet, already, before the legislation has come into force, at least one parent known to me, who’d never heard of the NP scheme, now realises that she has had a visit from hers – the health visitor attending to her during her pregnancy, called at her home (“just passing by”) and insisted on seeing her older (5 year old) child’s bedroom: one of the “standards” set by the government is that children will have a say in decorating their own room. Don’t laugh. That’s a fact. CheckhereAnd click here to learn about other parents’ experiences of the NP scheme ahead of its formal launch.Another parent has told me that she is going to re-decorate her children’s rooms and make sure everything is as “perfect” as it can be, for fear (I repeat “fear”) of receiving such a visit to her home.Looking on the bright side, this may be the first ever generation of perfect parents in the UK, if not worldwide… And children with their dream bedrooms! Crazy. Totally crazy stuff.

I attended one of the NO2NP roadshows on 22 June – East Kilbride – and it was heartening to see informed people from all walks of life there, including concerned parents, medical professionals, education professionals, pharmacists and other health professionals,all there to hear the excellent speakers bringing home to us the sinister nature of this newlaw, with hard facts and concrete examples of how the legislation will operate in the lives of every family in Scotland, from pre-birth to their child’s 18th birthday.Sinister, with bells on, and nowhere to hide.

One speaker asked us to listen to Nicola Sturgeon’s response to Liz Smith MSP (Conservative) at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament – see video below, and listen closely at 29.37 ff to hear Sturgeon asserting that “[the Scottish Government] will continue to act in a way that has the wellbeing of all children at the heart of“our“decision-making” – i.e. the State’s decision-making. Outrageous! A woman with no children of her own, telling parents how to raise their offspring! For, it is crucial that none of us makes the mistake of thinking that this legislation is aimed at protecting children at risk of abuse. That’s patent nonsense. Listen to Nicola Sturgeon speaking about the minority of cases where death has occurred, the exceptional cases, and then ask yourself why on earth she would want to label ALL parents as potential abusers and plant spies in every home – which is, effectively, what the Scottish Government NP is – a spy – in order to address a problem which affects a minority of children.

At least one top lawyer has savaged this piece of dictatorial legislation – click here to read his assessment.

So, what can we do?

1) Sign the No2NP petition – clickhere – and send the link to every parent you know/Facebook etc.

3) Spread the link to this blog far and wide – and send the link to every parent you know/Facebook etc.Encourage everyone to sign up and speak out. The stronger the voice of opposition, the better, and the more chance there is that this intrusive legislation is ditched.

Note: due to the seriousness of this issue, we are keeping this thread open, and at the top of the page, for easy access. Feel free to post updates, any stories you hear etc. We all need to be as informed as possible, in order to fight this unprecedented and unconscionable intrusion into family life. Say NO! to the NP Scheme – and say it loudly.

I have permission from the Catholic Truth Treasurer, Ms McMoneypenny – real name Norah – to announce the sad news of the death of her father, Robert (Bobby) aged 93, last Monday, 15th June.

Norah does blog here but wishes to withhold her username as she is the shy, retiring type (not like certain others we could mention!) and prefers to keep her online identity private. I know you will all understand.

Norah asks that we all remember her father in our prayers. He has been very ill for a number of years now, and passed away very peacefully last Monday, 15th June, surrounded by his family.Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him, may he rest in peace.

In what I believe was probably a very rare exercise in sarcasm, blogger, Athanasius, emailed me the other day to say that he was greatly looking forward to the new encyclical, adding “Ireland has just officially apostatised from the Faith and the Pope’s writing about the environment. Things are truly bad!”

Quite. The Church is falling apart before our very eyes, with apostasy writ large just about everywhere, and Pope Francis – instead of concerning himself with the question of how to end the diabolically-inspired crisis within the Church, which has resulted in worldwide apostasy – is worrying himself to death about how to improve the weather. Crackers

When can we expect an encyclical condemning the errors of our times and exhorting obedience to the moral law, as revealed by God and entrusted to His Church to preach and promote?When?

Click here to read about the launch of the first ever papal “eco-encyclical” – Laudato Si – and to read the encyclical click here

Comment

Well, the Pope has laid his cards on the table. He’s a “believer”. Where does that leave Catholics like myself, who do NOT believe that the weather is caused or changed by human beings… People like me who remember Our Lord’s exhortation not to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself? And where does it leave the papolatrists among us, who think the Pope’s every word is infallible? Could it be that the Holy Spirit is telling us that we ought to believe in man-made climate change?

Tell us if the new encyclical has evangelised YOU into believing the doctrine of “man-made climate change” or, if – like me – you agree with those commentators who suggest that the Pope should “leave science to the scientists” and further, that he should get down to ending the crisis in the Church, speaking out against the widespread loss of divine and Catholic Faith around us, apologise for his dereliction of duty in saying “who am I to judge?” (grave sin) and admit that the Church has gone off the rails in the past 50 years thanks to that Council. After all, he has to start somewhere if he wants to “save the Faith”. And he must want to “save the Faith”… surely?

The other day, a family member was telling me about a “personality test” that enables us to work out to which “type” of personality (out of four possible categories) we belong. The test is here

However, when I completed the test earlier today I came out as “nervous melancholic” and when I looked at the results, absolutely everything on the list (unless there’s something flattering there, that I’ve missed!) is the very OPPOSITE of what I’m like!Click hereto read the results of my test and I defy those of you who know me personally to say it’s accurate… 😯

There’s not a lot of news to discuss right now, and we are due a breather anyway – a bit of fun, perhaps – so do the test and tell us if yours is accurate.

Feel free to say whether, in your view, these tests and quizzes help to identify some possible reasons for our human strengths, weaknesses and failings – is there, in other words, any point in completing one of these personality tests? And should Catholics use them – or is the Fall of Adam & Eve enough to explain our “personalities”?

Below, a report of the planned meeting between the Pope and Vladimir Putin in Rome – surely an excellent opportunity to raise the question of the Consecration of Russia. I say that, because I doubt that Putin will have any objection, and that puts the bishops in their place. I did read somewhere that he DID object once when it was put to him, but not sure whether that is true or not. Certainly, if he has no problem with it, why should the bishops? Read the report below and tell us if you agree…

Vladimir Putin will raise the Ukraine crisis and the plight of Christians in the Middle East during a meeting with Pope Francis in Rome on Wednesday.

It will be Mr Putin’s second meeting with Pope Francis, and the latest episode in a long-running but sometimes fraught relationship between the Kremlin and the Vatican.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the president of Russia and the Bishop of Rome will cover “specific international problems, in particular the situation in Ukraine with emphasis on inter-religious relations and the activities of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics,” Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov told reporters on Tuesday.

Russian leaders traditionally visit the Pope during any visit to Italy, and Russian and Soviet leaders have maintained links with the Vatican since formal contacts were established between the Holy See and the Kremlin under Mikhail Gorbachev.

For the Kremlin, these meetings are an important source of “supplementary external legitimacy,” said Andrei Zolotov, a Russian journalist who specialises in religious affairs. “That is particularly important for Moscow in the present political situation.”

At their last meeting in November 2013 the notoriously tardy Mr Putin kept the Pope and his aides waiting for nearly an hour (the Kremlin blamed the delay on protesters outside Mr Putin’s Rome hotel).

Mr Putin’s team hailed that meeting as a success, and it raised hopes of a rapprochement between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy.

But analysts say a mooted historic meeting between the Pope and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, is now off the cards – largely thanks to the war in Ukraine.

To date Pope Francis has avoided taking a strong line on the Ukraine crisis, confining himself to expression of dismay at a “war between Christians” and implicitly – but not specifically – condemning the annexation of Crimea by calling for respect for international law.

According to one leading Vatican analyst, the Russians have taken care to express their appreciation for that restraint.

Writing in Rome’s Corriere della Sera newspaper on Tuesday, Massimo Franco said that in the past few days Patriarch Ilarione of the Russian Orthodox Church had “discreetly” reaffirmed gratitude for the Vatican’s “independent” line.

That is partly because the Vatican is sees Mr Putin’s Kremlin as an ally in other areas.

Apart from a joint commitment to “traditional values” – most prominently in opposition to gay marriage – the Third and First Romes have shared interests in the Middle East.

Pope Francis has also been outspoken in his condemnation of persecution of Christian minorities in the Middle East, blaming the fanaticism of groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) for driving Christians from their homes.

The Vatican openly opposed Western countries entering the war in Syria, and some analysts suggest that the “moral pressure” of a vigil for peace led by Pope Francis in September 2013 was instrumental in averting airstrikes.

In turn, Mr Putin has sought to reassert Russia’s traditional claim to be the protector of Christians in the Middle East, and has long portrayed his ally Bashar Assad, the Syrian president, as a secular protector of religious minorities against violent Islamism.

Russian weapons deliveries and diplomatic cover at the United Nations have been crucial to Mr Assad’s survival since an uprising against his rule in 2011 broke into a full-blown civil war.

For the Vatican, that makes Mr Putin an “unavoidable and valuable interlocutor for containing Islamic terrorism,” said Mr Franco.

But Pope Francis is coming under increasing pressure from leaders of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to take a more forceful line.

Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the Archbishop of Kiev Halych and the head of the Ukrainian church, has openly criticised the Vatican’s “ambivalence” over Russia’s role in the war.

“We understand Rome is trying to safeguard its ties with Moscow, but we also know Christ has always been on the side of those who suffer. In this conflict, it is Ukraine which is suffering – and the Holy See, whose diplomacy is service of the Gospel, should be at our side,” he said in May in an interview with La Croix, a French Catholic daily.

Most combatants on either side of the war in Ukraine are eastern Orthodox.

But the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church has been outspoken in its support of Kiev, and some fighters, especially on the pro-Russian side, see the war as a continuation of centuries of enmity between Orthodox Slavic civilization and the Catholic dominated West. Source

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